I'll Be Home For Christmas
by atlantisflygirl
Summary: Does exactly what it says on the tin. Little holiday themed fic, mainly Gibbs centric. Spoilers for season six.


Title: I'll Be Home For Christmas

Author: Kelly

Fandom: NCIS

Summary: A Christmas Challenge. At least one NCIS character and must be holiday themed.

Spoilers: Up too and including season six.

Special Agent Jethro Gibbs sat at his desk and stared at the crimson envelope, normally people didn't bother with this custom anymore. The world had grown more modern in recent years, instead of writing letters and making phone calls people kept in touch through email and social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook or whatever the hell his agents called it. Still here it was, a sealed red card sitting on his desk and the postmark staring back at him like a bad memory. [i]May as well bite the bullet[/i] Gibbs thought and seized it in one hand, picking up a letter opener with the other.

He hesitated for a moment and looked over to Anthony DiNozzo who had one ear phone in and was singing along to music on his iPod gadget thing. Even though he was murdering the song Gibbs recognised it as White Christmas, there wasn't a lot that could be said for Tony but at least it seemed he had some taste when it came to good music. The silver haired agent found he was smiling briefly, Christmas just wasn't the same when you had no one to share it with.

Gibbs didn't hate the festive season, he resented it. He resented it because he had been denied the last Christmas with his family, with Shannon and Kelly. He hadn't been able to make it back to America before Christmas/ before they died, he'd been stuck out in the Middle East and hadn't even had the opportunity to make a phone call. Two weeks later he had spoken with Shannon but it broke his heart to hear how his daughter had cried over his absence, it was his own fault. In a telephone conversation in November he had told Kelly that his unit were almost done with their tour and that he promised he would be home for Christmas. It was a promise he wasn't able to keep. It was after that day he vowed never to make a promise to anyone unless he was certain that he could make good on it.

The smile faded completely and his gaze sought out the object in his hand. Did he open it or did he just throw it in the trash like he had done all the other years? Things were different now weren't they? His eyes narrowed ever so slightly and he tossed it back down onto the surface of the desk once more.

"I got festive donuts," came the gravelled voice from the direction of the elevator. Gibbs didn't bother looking up as he knew who the voice belonged too, Tony on the other hand heard the word donuts and immediately leapt to his feet.

"Explain to me Abby exactly how donuts are festive," Tony retorted but that didn't mean he wouldn't be partaking in the eating of them. His stomach rumbled at the mere smell of them, they were obviously freshly baked, no more than half an hour old at the most.

"Well," Abigail Scuito replied, her dark pigtails swaying from side to side as she spoke. "They're not normally festive but these babies…" A huge grin emerged on her face as she held up the bag with a gloved finger. "Are."

Tony had to admit he was intrigued by this, he folded his arms with a thoughtful expression. "I'm listening…" he said quietly.

Abby was glad she had his attention, the grin got even wider. "Well I was passing the bakery on sixth street and I saw these cookies…"

"You saw these cookies and instead you brought donuts?" Tony asked, letting some outrage sneak into his tone. He liked donuts as much as the next person, maybe even more but the cookies sounded more enticing at this moment.

"Tony…" she replied with a small whine, it was her tone she used as if to say "can you let me finish".

Tony unfolded his arms for a moment and held them up. "Sorry…go on."

"Thank you…" Abby said with a smile. "Anyway as I was saying…"

Timothy McGee walked in with Ziva David in tow, he spotted Abby before Tony and gave her a smile. It faded slightly as he spotted her bag. "You got cookies too?" he asked holding up his own red and white paper bag with "Harrison's Bakery" cleared stamped on it in bold font.

"McGee!" Abby said her voice raising an octave.

"You've got cookies?" Tony asked looking over to McGee and suddenly taking an interest in the probie.

"Tony."

"The cookies are very good," Ziva said munching on her own little Christmas tree shaped cookies. It was a wonderful gingerbread colour and had little tinsel and decorations iced onto it.

"You don't even celebrate Christmas," Tony complained. Ziva had a retort prepared on the end of her tongue when Abby spoke up once more.

"Guys you're ruining my story," Abby said speaking up. It was at this point that Gibbs decided to look up and pay attention, so far he had been minding his own business, too lost in his own thoughts but now it was time to join the real world for a few minutes. Noticing he had looked over in her direction, Abby pleaded to him. "Gibbs…tell them."

Gibbs looked to Tony, Ziva and McGee in turn with a somewhat confused expression then finally looked back to her. "Tell them what Abby?" he asked.

"Tell them that they have to listen to my story about the festive donuts," she replied and held up the bag for emphasise.

Gibbs wanted to ask what was so festive about regular donuts but thought better of it as he looked at her. It was clear to him and everyone present that she was bursting at the seams to get this story out and wouldn't rest until she told somebody. After a few seconds of silence had passed he straightened up slightly. "We're listening."

"Great…" Abby said, the smile appearing back on her face. She drew in a deep breath. "So I was passing the bakery on sixth street and I…"

"Mr Palmer your ignorance astounds me." That was the unmistaken voice of Doctor Donald Mallard, or as his friends and co-workers called him, Ducky. He walked over to Gibbs' desk, followed by Jimmy Palmer, his assistant. As he stopped he turned back to the younger man who almost collided with him. "You've never heard of Bannock cakes?" He looked to Gibbs. "Can you believe this Jethro?"

"No I can't Duck," he replied but it wasn't entirely certain whether or not he was humouring the mild mannered medical examiner. From the look on Abby's face she couldn't believe it.

"It's a long standing Scottish tradition, Christmas without Bannock cake is like…" Ducky began but was struggling to find a suitable comparison.

"L_ike_ a pop tart _without_ the filling," Tony supplied.

"Yes…like that…" Ducky replied but Tony kept on going.

"Like Cagney without Lacey…" he continued and grinned.

"Yes.." Ducky answered and thought he was going to stop with just that, oh how he was wrong.

"Sam without Al!" Tony carried on.

"Yes yes…that's quite enough," Ducky said raising his voice ever so slightly.

"We get the picture Tony," McGee added.

"McGee without Elf lord," he said grinning at his own joke. All eyes went in his direction. "I'm done…" Tony ignored the looks and concentrated on Ducky. "Go on."

"Hold on a moment Bannock cake, is this not the one made from oatmeal?" Ziva asked a little puzzled.

"You are quite correct Ziva," Ducky replied. "But Mr Palmer here doesn't agree with…"

"I don't disagree with that Doctor Mallard…" Palmer said nervously. "I just said that it's you know…" He let out a strangled chuckle, nerves getting the best of him and it didn't help that he had six pairs of eyeballs staring back at him. Jimmy swallowed then said: "Gross."

"It's not exactly marzipan is it," Tony added.

"It's a long standing Scottish tradition and one that my family and I have always stuck too," Ducky replied.

"What's brought this on Duck?" Gibbs asked finally speaking up, he knew it didn't take a lot to get the old man worked up so Palmer must have done something to upset him. He looked up at Ducky with raised eyebrows.

"I invited Mr Palmer here for Christmas dinner and…" Ducky sighed. "It all went down hill from there."

"I only asked if I needed to wear a skirt to dinner…"

"A kilt, it's called a kilt Mr Palmer," Ducky intervened.

"Sorry Doctor…"

"Right…a kilt," Jimmy said with some apology in his tone and looked back to Gibbs. The man intimidated him but he was the only person he could look at right now. "I meant no offence by it but you see there's a tradition where people dance around a bonfire in a kilt and…"

"Jimmy…Jimmy…Jimmy…" Tony said slowly as he glanced over to the large set of windows, he paused for a moment then looked back to him. "Do you really think that Ducky would wear a kilt in this weather…" He pointed at the windows, upon turning in that direction the team realised it was snowing.

"Beautiful," Ziva murmured to herself with a smile. McGee grinned and even Ducky managed to smile. As if drawn to it, the small ensemble headed over to the window for a better look which left Abby and Gibbs alone. He watched after the group a moment longer then looked back to her.

Abby bowed her head slightly and tapped the bag against her thigh absently. "I guess no one is that interested in my story," she said quietly.

"You can tell it to me," Gibbs offered.

"No," she answered, her tone still quiet. "It's all kind of…I don't know…" Abby looked back to him with a slight pout. "Anti-climatic now." Gibbs gave a hint of a smile and she reached into the bag. "Merry Christmas Gibbs…" she said producing a wrapped donut and placing down on the desk in front of him. She walked over to the rest of the team gathered by the window, Tony greeted her by wrapping an arm around her and she returned the gesture by offering him a donut.

Gibbs watched this sight with a bright smile and thought there was nothing quite like family, he looked over to the donut then back down to the still unsealed card. He picked up both the card and the letter opener again and this time he slit open the envelope. Setting the letter opener down he used his thumb and index finger to grab onto the card and slip it out.

Once freed of its paper prison, Gibbs turned the card around and saw the message on the front. It was an ordinary run of the mill Christmas card with a winter scene printed onto it, the type sent out to friends and family you hadn't had contact with for years, what was the word he was looking for? Obligatory.

Despite this he opened the card and found a short yet meaningful message scribbled onto it.

[b]Thank you for stopping by. I hope to see you in the near future. Give me a call sometime[/b]

It was followed by the number then:

[b]Don't be a stranger. Dad.[/b]

He went through a wide range of emotions from happiness to sadness then relief, he recalled his visit to Stillwater and had found out a lot about himself during that case. A lot of things were left unsaid between himself and Jackson Gibbs but had hoped that would all change, this proved it.

Gibbs laid the card down in front of him and picked up the receiver. "Outside line," he said speaking into it then once it was set up he punched in the number. It rang a couple of times and he held his breath.

"Dad? It's...it's me." he finally said. "Just wanted to let you know that..." Another pause to gather his wits about him, when he spoke again he did with a smile, with a promise. "I'll be home for Christmas."


End file.
